WHEELING – Tuesday morning marked the beginning of the 2022 WVSSAC high school state golf tournament at Spiedel Golf Club in Wheeling. Eight teams from each class qualified as a team, while an additional eight individual qualifiers were included from each class also.
The tournament this year is being held October 4-5 on the Jones Course at Speidel, with total scores being collected from both rounds to determine both a team, and individual state champion for all three classes. The top three scores (out of four) for each team will be used for the overall team score throughout the tournament.
Morgantown High School qualified as a team, while Briar Manko from Preston High School qualified for the state tournament as an individual entry through Region 1.
MHS was represented by the team of Andrew Sheets, Solas Chhin-Kreiner, Brody Davis, and Gabe Watson. Each player began the first round on the back nine (hole no. 10) to get their tournament underway, then would finish out the opening round on the front nine.
The Mohigans went in the order as mentioned earlier, with everyone being split into a foursome group made up of one MHS player and three players from other Class AAA schools who also qualified as a team.
Playing as an individual, Manko of PHS was grouped with the first foursome of two made up of the eight solo qualifiers in Class AAA, also beginning on the back nine.
Individually, Chhin-Kriener was the low-scorer on the day for the Mohigans, posting a score of 83 (+12) which left him T-8 going into day two. Gabe Watson finished just three strokes behind his teammate with an 86 (+15), good enough for T-14. Andrew Sheets rounded out the three scores that would be taken into account for the overall team score after day one with an 89 (+18, T-21), with Brody Davis (24th) rounding out the MHS roster just one stroke behind Sheets at 90 (+19).
“We played well today from tee to green,” MHS head coach Joel Barrett said after his players completed their rounds on Tuesday. “They struggled with the green speeds at first, they were very fast. We will have a better game plan for tomorrow on the greens.”
Briar Manko of PHS finished his first round T-29 with a score of 95 (+24), leaving himself with some work to do on day two.
In the team competition, MHS posted a team score of 258 (+45), behind the scores of Chhin-Kreiner, Sheets, and Watson. The Mohigans find themselves in fifth place overall, 19 shots back of the leaders, Wheeling Park (239, +26). MHS only trail fourth place George Washington (256, +43) by two strokes, and third place Cabell Midland (251, +37) by seven strokes. With some room to improve on the opening round scores, Barrett and his team are ready to make a move on Wednesday.
“We are only two shots off of fourth place, we hope to make some jumps over a team or two tomorrow,” he said.
“The players are enjoying the experience either way, we only have one senior, two sophomores, and a freshman. We’re learning a lot which will benefit us going forward.”
Play will resume for the championship round tomorrow at 8:30 a.m., with players beginning on the No. 1 and No. 10 tees of the Jones Course at Speidel Golf Club at Oglebay Resort in Wheeling.
TWEET – @dompostsports
